


College Nerds

by SweetPotato



Category: American Dragon: Jake Long, Danny Phantom
Genre: College AU, Crossover, Danny had Freckels, Kissing, M/M, and glasses, gay nerds
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-26
Updated: 2015-04-15
Packaged: 2018-03-15 07:50:31
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,644
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3439346
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SweetPotato/pseuds/SweetPotato
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jakes friends force him into a blind date, and one of the best desions he ever made was going along with it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Blind Date Of Akwardness

**Author's Note:**

> The wonderful Ghast at http://going-ghast.tumblr.com/ co wrote this with me!

Jake wasn’t quite sure what to expect when Trixie and Spud had burst in to his college dorm room, only to drag him out of his nice warm bed and away from his marathon of Merlin on Netflix. Spud picked out clothes for him to change in to while Trixie faced a wall and explained that it was a Friday night, and that they were sick and tired of watching Jake vegetating on his days off from classes, and therefore they had set up a blind date for him. 

Jake resisted the urge to climb back in bed, because Trixie was one of the few things that could intimidate even a dragon such as himself. 

Jake was reluctantly dragged to the bus and given the instructions that he needed to get off at the stop on 23rd street and sit in their favorite booth in the back of the 23rd street coffee house, and then wait or his date to arrive. 

Jake tried to work up his excitement on the way over, but the most he could muster was a bemused interest. He was curious to see what kind of person Trixie and Spud had thought would be a good date for him.

Jake steeled his resolve as he ordered his usual caffeinated drink and settled down in the booth to wait.

Danny had no idea what had possessed him to take up two strangers on campus on their offer of getting him a blind date. They had just been chatting at a lunch table together when they brought up how their friend really needed to get a date or something and get his lazy ass off the couch. Danny had laughed and said they sounded like him, and that his friend Sam was always telling him the same thing. So they pretty much forced him to agree on taking their friend out for a date that night. Though Danny supposes Force was a pretty strong word, they had shown him a picture of Jake on one of their phones and he had to admit that he thought the guy was pretty damn cute.

So there he was walking into the assigned coffee shop looking around for a short guy with green highlights.

When he found him the tapped lightly on his shoulder and said "Hey I'm Danny, you must be Jake. I’m, uh, your date." He looked down at him a little awkwardly, that had not come out as smoothly as he had planned.

Jake was going to kill his friends. He didn’t care that Trixie could instill the fear of the afterlife in him. They had to have been playing him, and they were probably having a good laugh about it right about now. 

The young man for one was a towering giant, almost a head and a half over Jake. But Jake had to admit that the stranger looked like he was actually nervous, and not like he was in on the prank. Trixie must have duped this Danny guy in to the date too.

“Ummm… Yeah man, that’s me…” Jake finally managed to stammer out when he realized how rude he was probably being. “Wanna have a seat or somethin’?”

"Oh, right yeah." He said and sat down across from him. After a few seconds of silence Danny figured it was up to him to begin conversation and said, "So I, uh, hear you have and accent, have you lived in New York for a while?" Danny almost cringed at his sad attempt at small talk.

“Yeah, actually. My family has had their roots here for a while.” Jake fumbled with the sleeve on his coffee cup a little, trying to overcome how awkward he felt, “How about you? I’m guessing you’re a student here?”

"Yeah, I’m majoring in astrophysics, what about you?"

“Yo, you must be some sort of brainiac then. I wanted to learn forensics sciences, but I couldn’t keep up. I had to switch over to a history major.” Jake ran his fingers through his hair. Forensics would have been a useful skill to know for his job as the Am-Drag, but he just didn’t have the time between juggling work, classes, and responsibilities. “To be honest, I don’t really have time for a relationship right now. I hope my friends didn’t push you into doing this…”

Danny deflated a little, but tried not to let it show; He didn’t want to make Jake feel guilty. Danny had actually been looking forward to meeting someone new, being so far away from home he always found himself feeling hollow and lonely. But he tried to keep a small smile on his face as he said, "No, they didn't push me too much, we were just talking and I happened to mention that I was desperately single, so they showed me you're picture and told me I would take you out. And well, here we are now." Danny chuckled

Jake kicked himself a little mentally. He had grown particularly adept at reading body language and facial expressions through all of his interactions with magical creatures. He had to be good at it since several species couldn’t speak and relied heavily on gestures. 

“I dunno, maybe Trix is right and I need to chill out...” Jake hoped he could get his foot out of his mouth, because this Danny guy seemed nice, “Do you ever play video games and stuff? Because I hear there’s a new arcade that opened nearby.”

A broad smile made its way onto Danny’s face and a spark of warmth filled his chest. "Dude, video games are like my thing. I heard that place was opening, do you wanna go?" Danny smirked, "I mean if you don't mind me kicking your ass at DDR."  
Jake grinned back at Danny.

It wasn’t hard to find the arcade. It was just a couple streets over, and the bright neon light from the sign was luring people in like moths to a flame. Jake located the money exchanging machine and soon their pockets were full of quarters and they were scoping the floor for the nearest DDR game.

Two hours and a dozen rounds of DDR later they were tired, sweaty, and breathing heavily on a park bench outside the arcade. Danny pulled a spare bottle of water out of his bag and handed it to Jake, whom took it graciously. "I still think you cheated." Danny laughed as Jake drank down the water in heaping gulps.

“Naw man, I just got mad skills ‘cause my little sister kept beating me so bad that my friends had to coach me.” Jake chuckled before he downed the water as well. “I still can’t beat her though!” he exclaimed

Jake was actually enjoying himself a lot now that the awkwardness was melting away. He hoped he wasn’t being weird as he kept glancing at Danny from the corner of his eye. Jake hadn’t dated any guys at all, although he finally admitted to his friends that it wasn’t something he would be opposed to in the least. In fact Danny was quite attractive. And his awkward lankiness reminded Jake of an overgrown puppy not quite used to its own limbs yet. It was almost…. endearing.

“So, astrophysics huh? What got you in to that?”

"Well when I was younger I wanted to be an astronaut, but as I got older I realized I liked the idea of making rocket ships more than actually being shipped into outer space. So I asked my counselor what I should take, and low and behold, I ended up taking astrophysics." He said with a happy sigh.

“Like I said, I’m just majoring in history right now, I tried to do other things but I just don’t have the brains for it I guess. I like learning about the past though, and mythology, so it’s not that bad.” 

Jake leaned back in the bench and laced his fingers behind his head. “Thanks for meeting me tonight. I wasn’t really sure what to expect, but this was really fun.” Jake commented in a warm tone.

"Yeah this was pretty great, any way I can convince you to do it again sometime?" Danny asked hopefully.  
Jake didn’t even have to consider. “Yeah, that would be pretty cool.” He said, looking into Danny’s eyes.  
"Great uh..." Danny looked up at the night sky and realized how late it must be, "Do you want me to walk you back to your dorm?”  
“If you want to, man. We could exchange numbers on the way back at least.” Jake shrugged. It was a quiet night tonight, so Haley and her mentor Sun Park must be out patrolling the city.

"Yeah, I'd like that." And so they began the walk back to their dorms, chatting all the way up to Jakes door. They stood there for a few seconds awkwardly, and well, well Danny wanted to kiss him! But he didn’t know if Jake would be completely okay with doing that so soon, so like any other giant dork not knowing the meaning of "Spontaneous" (But knowing the meaning of “Consent”) he asked permission, very, very awkwardly. "So can I uh, maybe kiss you goodnight?"

“D-dude!” Jake exclaimed. This time there was nothing to disguise the slight blush that grew across Jake’s cheeks. He hadn’t kissed anyone since, well, the last time he kissed Rose ages ago. To be honest, he kind of missed it.  
Jake nodded, just as awkwardly, and he stood up on the tips of his toes to try and close the height gap between them before leaning in for the kiss.

Danny thought he had scared Jake from the way he had shouted, but was pleasantly surprised when he him nod. He tried not to smile too hard about how cute it was that Jake had to get up on the tips of his toes to kiss him. The kiss was chaste and their lips stayed closed, but it felt so nice and calming. Jake had moderately large lips for a male, and in all honestly made him look kind of like a fish in the right lights, but when those pouty lips met his they felt soft, and plump, and just....Right.

Jake thought it was strange kissing someone so much taller than himself, even though Rose had also been taller than him. Jake hand to put one hand on Danny’s arm to keep his balance. Jake had closed his eyes right before their lips touched, but not before he had gotten close-up look at Danny’s brilliant blue eyes and his light dusting of freckles.

He was shocked out of his reverie though as his dorm room door burst open and there was an obnoxious flash of light and a click that caused Jake to lose his balance. He glared menacingly at the newly revealed Trixie who was holding a camera up while Spud was cracking up behind her.

“Guys!” Jake yelled, “What the fuck!”

"Oh gosh..." Danny said, cheeks reddening and out of his mind embarrassed. He took off his glasses and covered his reddening face.

“I’m sorry, homeboy…” Trixie snickered, “The opportunity was just too-oo good to pass up!”

Jake was blushing furiously now as he lunged for the camera. Trixie was too fast however and tossed it to Spud who dutifully held it over his head and well out of Jake’s reach. 

“It’s not often we can catch our Mack daddy actually mackin’ with anyone,” Trixie followed up “And this one is going in our scrapbook.”

"Oh god." Danny said, still covering his face squatted down to the floor to get as small as possible, he had not been this embarrassed since Sam found his hard core porn stash.

Jake felt like he could just die from the embarrassment, he barely got to know Danny, and now his friends were going to scare him off. Jake made one last attempt to grab the camera by using the edge of the bed for leverage as he stepped on it and launched himself higher in to the air. He managed to knock the camera out of Spud’s fingers, but in the following tumble of arms as they both scrambled to grab it out of the air the camera somehow managed to get knocked out of the open window.  
Jake, Spud, and Trixie all froze in horror for a couple seconds before they made a mad dash for the door.

Danny watched as the expensive looking camera flew out of the third story window, and then followed an impulse. And idiotic, not very well thought out, impulse. He quickly went ghost, flew through the wall, and grabbed the camera a few inches from the ground.

Jake and co. caused quite a commotion as they fought each other the whole way down three flights of stairs. Trixie and Spud both had longer legs than Jake so they gained the lead, but then Jake grabbed a trash can lid and used it to slide clattering down the steps until Spud tripped him and he crashed in to a wall. They somehow all ended up in a tangle at the bottom of the stairs after Jake tackled them, and they were a screaming mess of arms and legs as they tripped over each other trying to be the first outside. Jake was the first out the door after he used his tail to swipe their feet out from under them one last time before they could make a dash for it. But Trixie and Spud were close behind him as they all ran gasping for air to where Danny was standing with the camera.

Danny could see the confusion in their eyes and knew they wanted an explaination, so he quickly came up with the most lame and unrealistic excuse he could come up with on the spot, "So, I uh, jumped out the window to catch your camera..."  
“Holy shit, dude!” Jake managed to spit out between gasps. 

And Spud chimed in with a “Are you like a ninja or something?”

Trixie didn’t bother with commentary as she quickly snatched the camera and pulled out the SD card, causing Jake to fall on the grass with defeat and exhaustion.

Okay, a ninja, Danny could work with that. "Yes! A ninja, that is what I am, you caught me!"

“Whoa man…Could you take me on as your apprentice?” Spud breathed reverently. 

Trixie smacked him on the back of the head

"No!" He shouted, feeling himself sink further into this horribly thought out lie, "I mean I am not nearly to that level of mastery yet, so yeah..."

“Spud, ninjas ain’t real..” Trixie said as she grabbed him by his shirt collar and began to drag him away. “Now let me use your printer so I can print this shit before somethin’ else happens.”

Jake just covered his face and groaned from where he was lying on the grass. He finally worked up his courage to peek between his fingers at Danny as he let out a remorseful “I am so, so, so sorry….”

What the fuck? Did they just buy that load of shit? Well, Danny was not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, "Oh no man, it’s okay, and I mean I know if my friends were here they would totally pull the same thing." Danny chuckled nervously.

“Oh god, promise me that we’ll never let our friends meet…” Jake said, finally pushing himself up in to a seated position. “So, a ninja who is also a space-braniac DDR enthusiast?”

Danny did some more nervous laughter before saying, "He, yeah, that’s me all right..."

There was an awkward silence that dragged out for what seemed like forever before Jake finally worked up the courage to blurt out, “Hey, do you want a take two on that kiss?"

"Oh hell yes." Danny then and swept Jake into his arms, this time taking full control of the kiss. He was feeling brave all of the sudden, maybe because Jake had suggested the kiss this time, but that did not matter because he had bent down (Almost unconfutably so) and placed his hands on Jakes hips before connecting their lips. This time it was less timid and their lips worked against each other’s, and it just felt so nice and great.

It took Jake a moment to relax into the kiss as he was still partially afraid his friends would pop up again. That was quickly forgotten though as Danny’s warm lips pressed against his for what seemed like a blissful eternity. 

Jake took a breath when they finally parted again, and he exhaled it with a soft, “Whoa…”

"Yeah, you can say that again," Danny smiled, licking his upper lip, "I gotta get going, but Ill text you later about that study date we were talking about." And with a little peck on the cheek Danny was off. He was grinning a mile a minute as he fled towards his dorm.

Jake flushed a little as he waved goodbye. He wandered back to his dorm and flopped on to his bed in a daze. He hadn’t been prepared for how much he had enjoyed himself. Or how much he had ended up liking Danny after all. He might have to get around to thanking Trixie and Spud someday, after he forgives them for their prank.


	2. Chapter 2

Danny and Jake had been seeing each other for around two weeks at this point and had been out on 7 dates, so pretty much every other day. There had been many more kisses, and much better kisses, since that faithful night, and Jake had not asked about him being a "ninja" so Danny would say things were going pretty well.    At this point in time the two nerds are snugged up under a blanket together playing final fantasy in Danny’s dorm room.

Jake was playing Final Fantasy VII on his PSP while he watched Danny playing FFX on his Xbox. It was a pretty chilly evening, but under the blanket with both of their body heats the warmth was making it hard for Jake to keep from nodding off. The calming soundtrack wasn’t helping either.

He was about to pass out for good when he noticed something moving rapidly outside of the window of Danny’s dorm. After blinking the sleep from his eyes Jake realized that there was a fairy outside waving frantically at him in an attempt to get his attention.  Shit. Jake sat up with a bolt and nearly dropped his handheld.

“Oh shit! Would you mind if we cut this short?” Jake tried to come up with a good explanation for his sudden rush. “I, um… I forgot that I need to turn in a paper before ten...”

The position they were in was so warm and lulling that he had not found it at all alarming that Jake seemed to be dozing off on his shoulder, what was alarming was when Jake suddenly stood up and declared he had somewhere to go. "Oh man okay, see you later then." He stood up and gave Jake a quick peck on the lips.

 Jake kissed Danny back quick before he pulled on his shoes and hurried out the door. He hoped that whatever the fairy needed wouldn’t take too long. If he got finished soon then maybe he would have enough time to pick up dessert or something to bring back to Danny as an apology.

The fairy was waiting for him in the hedges outside of the front door, and she was huffing with as much annoyance as her tiny body could muster. She was flitting around in sporadic movements, and when Jake appeared then she flew over to his ear and began to spit out words in rapid succession.

"Whoa! Whoa! Slow down. I can't hear anything you're saying!" Jake managed to interject.

She sighed, and rolled her eyes before she began again using slower and more concise words as it she thought Jake an idiot. "The fauns are in the woods outside of the eastern dorm again throwing a party. I suggest the American Dragon put a stop to them before those drunks start losing their pants and giving us away!"

Jake groaned. It wasn't going to be a quick night after all.

After Jake left, Danny no longer felt like playing FFX, so he sat down with his laptop and started writing his affirmative argument for the debate he had next week. He only worked on it for about ten minutes when he heard distant screams. Worried he goes invisible and flies towards the sound, only to find some of the craziest shit he had ever seen. A handful of fucking fauns were running around while a giant ass fucking dragon (Well, not that big compared to the ones he had met so many years ago) tried to herd them into a corner while a fairy flied around him nagging him. He got over the weirdness mildly fast and tried to access who’s side to play for, because there was no way he was not getting a piece of this batshit crazy action. After his evaluation he decided the distressed dragon was the good guy and flew over to ask if he wanted Danny’s help

It took almost no time at all for Jake to Dragon Up and fly over to the eastern dormitory. He landed in the clearing where the party was in full swing.

They had built a gigantic bonfire in the center of the clearing with kegs to one side. There were several different speakers set up that were blaring out an obnoxious beat that the creatures were dancing to.

There was no way this party was going to go unnoticed by the authorities. The police were most likely on their way over right then.

Jake swung his tail around and smashed it in to the wooden kegs. Alcohol splashed all over the centaurs, fauns, and even in to the bonfire itself, causing a massive flare up. That had everyone's attention quite fast.

He didn't notice the Phantom flying up behind him as he took a deep breath and roared like only a dragon can roar, before he slammed his tail down on the grass with a loud smack.

"Yo, listen up! This party is here by cancelled by the Am-Drag! All you peeps had better scram this instant or else I'm going to kick all your asses myself!"

Before he could say anything the dragon roared at the centaurs, and it seemed like he was pretty serious, but all he got in return was their drunken laughter. "Hey you need some help 'Am-Drag'?"  Danny smirked and said the dragons 'name' in a mildly amused and slightly condescending tone.

Jake turned his head to look over the newcomer. It was some smart-ass looking punk with white hair that seemed to be floating three feet off of the ground behind him. Jake knit his eyebrows together in a scowl. "I've got it handled." He growled, "Who are you supposed to be? Tights McGee?"

Danny was a little taken back by why the dragon had said, all Danny did was offer his help. "Names the phantom, get it, cause Imma ghost? And I’m so sorry for interrupting your failed attempt at wrangling up a few centaurs, so please continue great ‘Am-Drag'"

Jake lunged at the nearest group of centaurs, whipping his tail around and giving their rumps a mild smack that sent them scattering off in to the woods. The fauns didn't take it as a warning in the least as they rolled back on the grass laughing and waving their goat hooves in the air.

"Look-" Jake said, rubbing his temples with exasperation, "-you must be new around here. I'm the American Dragon. It's just a fancy name for the person who has to be responsible for all the magical shit that goes on in NYC. If you want to try handling it for a day then be my guest, but please don’t give me your shitty attitude until you do."

Jake's mood was pretty dark at this point. He had to cancel his quiet date night just for the magical creatures to disrespect him, and all while this ghost boy smirked at him from the shadows. He thought that he would get better at this whole 'City Guardian' thing as he grew older, but it wasn't turning out that way at all.

Danny felt a pang of guilt for acting so rude; it was obvious this "Magical protector" of the city of New York was distressed and having a shitty day. So Danny wiped the smirk of his face and floated out of the shadows. "Sorry man, I wasn't trying to judge you or anything, I’m just not used to people refusing my help." He outstretched his hand with a smile, "So uh let’s try this again, I'm the Phantom, and I usually deal with ghost based crime. Nice to meet ya!"

Jake reached out and shook the white gloved hand with his own large scaly one. "Nice to meet you too." Jake nodded. "Hey, you wouldn't happen to know a good way to put out this bonfire, would ya'? I'm more adept at lighting them myself."

“Putting out fire? Oh yeah, I got this." Danny felt a sudden urge to show off as he flew up into the air above the bonfire. He shot ice right into the heart of the fire and flew around it until a big block flame shaped ice stood where the fire used to be. He landed proudly next to the Dragon. "That should do it right?"

"Holy crap..." Jake said as he admired the perfect ice sculpture where the fire used to be. "That is one neat power, dude..."

Jake flew over to the sound system that was still pulsing out a lively beat, and he expertly yanked out all of the wires. In the silence that followed it became apparent that there was a rising shriek of police sirens drawing closer. All of the remaining fauns took the warning and vanished in to the trees.

Jake's eyes widened and he flew over and pushed the ghost boy out of the clearing with him and through the trees.

Well now that he was done showing off and now in the middle of a bunch of trees with a strange dragon dude, its question time. "So I’ve met some ghost dragons before but they were like half ghost half dragon, are you like that too?" Danny hoped he was not asking something racist among dragons.

"Naw man, no ghosts here. I don't even remember seeing ghosts in New York City before." Jake landed on a fallen log where he could keep an ear on the clearing just in case there were any stragglers that needed his help after the police showed up. All he heard was a cop commenting on the 'damned science nerds messing around with liquid nitrogen.'

Jake settled down after that.

"So what's it like being a ghost?" Jake asked, interested.

 "Well it’s kind of floaty, and the powers are cool, but I’m not a ghost all the time." He replied, figuring 'Hey, this guy is a fucking dragon; I don’t think he’s going to go sell me out.

All Jake's attention focused on Danny now. He had avoided the obvious 'how did you die' question, but he didn't know someone could be a ghost and not be dead.

"Dude, how does that even work...? Are you under a curse or something? If a shaman or wizard did this to you then I can help." Jake really hoped that the ghost didn’t mean he was going around and possessing people. Jake didn’t even know how to fight ghosts yet.

"Ha! No man, my parents are a couple of mad scientist’s obsessed with ghosts, and one day I went and started meddling in their stuff and BAM!" Danny says with an exasperated hand motion, "I’m suddenly half ghost." Danny chuckles, he did not even know a dragon could look bewildered. "What about you, how did you end up as a dragon magical protector thing?"

 “It’s kind of genetic.” Jake wasn’t sure how much he should reveal to a kid he barely knew, but he figured the basics were okay. “My ancestors were all dragons, and the whole guardian thing gets passed down too. There are hundreds of us all over the world trying to keep the magical world safe.”

Jake felt rather proud of his family line after getting to explain it to someone. Usually if someone knew he was the American Dragon beforehand then it meant they were looking for him to solve all of their problems, and it got rather tedious after a while.

Danny looked at him in awe "That’s so rad, the only thing our parents gave me and my sister was feminine hips!" Danny laughs, while putting a hand on his right hip and jutting it out dramatically. In the back of Danny’s mind he thought the dragon’s voice sounded slightly familiar, but brushed it off as him thinking all New Yorkers sounded similar.

Jake chuckled at that, a rumbling sort of chuckle that all dragons seem to have.

"Hey man, I would take your hips over my monstrous morning breath any day."

"Well I don’t mean to brag but my boyfriend thinks my hips are pretty nice too." Danny said, remembers Jake and internally sighing, they had only been together 2 weeks, but he already never wanted it to end. He also may have mentioned Jake because this Dragon was getting pretty friendly, and he wanted to let him know he was off the market.

At the mention of Phantom's boyfriend, Jake's mind found its way back to Danny. Maybe if he hurried then he would have time to pick something up for him before the shops all closed.

"Cool," Jake said, stretching his wings. "I got a few more patrols to do before the nights over, but it was great meeting you. I'll be around if you ever need help."

Jake flew off after that and decided to stop by a comic book store and pick up the latest copy of the ‘Doomed’ comic series for Danny. He circled the city a few times afterward to keep an eye out for trouble. It was a peaceful in the magical world though, so Jake headed back to the college campus.

It was well after midnight after he got back, and Danny’s dorm light was off. Jake just hung the shopping bag with the comic book in it on Danny’s doorknob along with a scribbled apology note before he headed to bed himself.  


	3. Like Batman

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The end to this trilogy!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you guys like the ending! Thanks for reading!

The next week was going by in a blur for Jake. Not only was he loaded down with homework, he also had to spend long nights patrolling. It was the week of the full moon, and magical creatures always seemed to act wildest as the moon grew.

Jake had already broken up at least two fights between the mermaids and the selkies.  He had to convince the giants to relocate their football game since they were causing small earthquakes all over the city. Not to mention that there was a pack of trolls going around trashing leprechaun pubs. And that was all during a single evening. It was just one thing after another, and Jake was sick of it. He had a boyfriend now, and an amazing one at that. Why couldn't the world slow down and wait for him to enjoy himself a little?

The universe answered his question in the form of his cell phone ringing. It was his grandfather calling to tell him that some wyverns were pickpocketing people in Central Park again. Jake sighed.

By the end of the night Jake was covered in scratches and a whole palette of new bruises. He only managed to get a couple hours of sleep before his alarm began to chirp, and prompted him out of bed again. After showering and dressing, Jake ran to the campus coffee shop and picked up two drinks and a few muffins before making his way to Danny's dorm room. Maybe a surprise breakfast would make up for how busy Jake had been lately, at least he hoped that would be the case as he knocked on the door.

 Jake had been busy for the past week with family stuff and school work, so Danny had been feeling pretty void. He chatted with Sam and Tuck when they were free on Skype, but Sam kept getting annoyed and calling him a 'whiney love sick puppy’. So there Danny was, lying in bed working on his morning wood in the light of the early sun running through his window, when a knock sounded at his door. The loud noise pulled a high pitched "Who is it?" from his throat as he quickly pulled his hand off his dick.

"It's Jake." he called back through the door. "I brought breakfast." He sipped his coffee while he leaned against the doorframe. His eyes did not want to stay open, so he let them drift closed. Jake hadn't seen Danny in the early morning yet. He began picturing Danny with bed head and tangled up in sheets. He didn't realize how much he was spacing out until the door flew open to reveal a disheveled mop of black hair and some wrinkled, oversized pajamas.

"Oh my god, Dan-man... Where did you even find a Ghostbusters sweater that huge..."

Once he knew it was Jake and that he had food, Danny immediately wiped his hands on his sheets, pulled his pants up, and bolted to the door. He knew he must look like a mess, but he hadn’t seen much of Jake all week and he just had to jump at the opportunity to see him before school or family pulled him away. So with a flushed face, horrible hair, and a boner (which he tried to conceal by pulling down his huge sweater), he pulled open the door to smile at Jake.

 "The internet Jakey, you can find anything on the internet." He replied and waved for him to come in.

Jake came in and set the drinks and bag of muffins on the desk/makeshift dinner table. Then Jake tugged on the collar of Danny's sweater to pull his head closer before Jake kissed him full on the lips. He lingered for several heartbeats, using the tip of his tongue to just barely trace the inside edge of Danny's lips before parting again.

"Holy shit, I missed you..." Jake said as he sat down at the desk while rubbing his sleep deprived eyes.

Danny pressed his tingling lips together before pulling his hands either side of the computer chair Jake was sitting on and leaning down to be at eye level with him.

"I missed you too Jake." And pressed a light peck on Jakes lips before standing up straight and walking towards the bathroom, "But I’m gonna go brush my teeth real quick, because I’m sure my breath smells like ass."

Jake waved Danny away with a noncommittal sort of gesture and a mumble that sounded like "s'fine." He chose a blueberry muffin and chewed while he swore to himself that never again would he get so little sleep on a school night. A promise that he was sure he was going to break in three days, no doubt. He didn't notice when his head found its way to the surface of the desk and he began to doze off.

Danny spent a little extra time brushing his teeth while thinking about dead puppies, and when he walked out of the bathroom he saw that Jake was fast asleep on his desk. Jake had been running himself ragged and Danny just did not have the heart to wake him up. And so since neither of them had classes for at least a few hours, Danny gently picked up Jake and put him on the bed, which he then climbed into and pulled the covers over  them both. It had been so long since Danny had another warm body lying next to him, and it was just so calm and comforting that it took Danny less  than a minute snuggled up to Jake to fall asleep.

It was definitely not an unpleasant surprise waking up from a deep sleep to find Danny sleeping beside him, although it caused his virgin heart to skip a few beats. Jake took shallow breaths, breathing in his boyfriend's scent. There was a trace of mint from his recently brushed teeth, and a light musky scent that Jake assumed was from Danny's aftershave. Also a subtle smell of recently washed cotton. He resisted the urge to bury his face in Danny's chest when he realized that his cell phone was buzzing in his pocket. A quick peek at the screen revealed a text from Spud saying "Where R U? Class starting."

It caused Jake to bolt up in bed, and he shook Danny's sleeping form by the shoulder with a "Hey, Dan, we're missing class."

When Jake woke him up telling him that class was starting his first instinct was to drag him back into his arms and tell him they should skip. Then he remembered how much college cost and got his ass in gear. Usually when Danny was late he would just go ghost and zoom there and sit in his seat like he had been there the whole time, but since Jake was there it was not much of an option in this instance. So in just his pajamas he grabbed his book bag and bolted to the door, only turning around to look at Jake (Who was really cute looking with his messed up hair and flushed face) and say "Race ya!", before running down the stairs.

Jake jumped up to hurry after Danny, only pausing to grab his backpack and the bag of remaining muffins. Luckily, Jake was the kind of young adult that still avidly carried around his skateboard, so it was only a matter of seconds before he had unstrapped and under his feet. There were rules about 'no skateboarding in the dorm,' but Jake was out the door and chasing Danny down before anyone could get a word out.

Danny's long legs could carry him faster than Jake had anticipated, but it wasn't so bad being stuck with a view of his perfect rear end. At least it wouldn't have been if Danny's sweater wasn't baggy enough to hide most of it. Damn.

Danny reached the steps of the main campus building first, and Jake handed him one of the remaining muffin's and gave him a quick kiss before they went to their separate classes.

During class Danny started wondering what Jake looked like in the morning. Does he sleep in oversized sweaters like Danny? What would his hair look like with no gel? Danny thinks it would be soft and fall in Jakes face. He imagines waking Jake up in the warm morning sun by planting kisses up his neck, when he should be paying attention to his professor talking about rocket science. He texts Jake and asks him to meet back in his dorm after his last class of the day.

Jake had to call Haley and bribe her in to taking over his dragon duties that evening. He tried his best to make it sound like he was just in need of sleep and study time, and not trying to have a date with his boyfriend that his family didn't know about yet. In the end Haley agreed, but only if he would buy her some new shoes and owe her several favors. Jake agreed before sending Danny a relieved "Yes."

The day seemed to drag by after that. Jake's last class didn't end until 7:30pm, but when the minute hand finally told him the time he wanted, well then Jake bolted out as fast as he could. He was outside Danny's door knocking while trying to catch his breath no later than 7:42pm.

When Jake showed up at his door a 7:42, breathing hard, his clothes messed up and wrinkled, and sweating with a broad grin, Danny just could not help it. A gigantic smile climbed its way on to Danny’s face and he mustered up all the strength he had to grab Jake by the back and spin him around while saying "How are you so flipping cute!?"

Jake spluttered, indignant at the treatment. He tried to sound menacing, but his voice came out somewhere between a shriek and a squeak while his giant of a boyfriend spun him around.

"Ffffff..! Put me down for god's sake! I'm not fuckin' cute!" Jake clung to Danny's arms for dear life. Sure, Jake could fly, and he wasn't afraid of heights, but it didn't mean he liked people swinging him around. He could already feel the tips of his ears flushing red like they tended to do when he was mad.

Danny stopped spinning at Jakes protest, but by no means put him down; he just repositioned his arms to where they were cradling Jake where his thighs met his butt so he could look at him in the face. This made Jake scramble to place his hands on Danny’s shoulders instead of his arms.

 "You are too cute, you little nerd." Danny said and kissed him on the forehead, "And how much do you weigh anyway? Like 90 pounds or what?"  He laughed.

"More like 115..." Jake scoffed. He was trying to not get too defensive over his height though, so he took the opportunity to kiss Danny on the lips for the fourth time that day. It was nice not having to strain on his toes to get a kiss for once and he was sure Danny would appreciate not having to bend over for it, either.

 Danny smiled into the kiss and walked backward so he could sit on the bed, because even though Jake may not be that heavy, Danny is not all that strong. Once he sat down on the edge of the bed he pushed forward in an attempt to deepen the kiss while moving his hands to rest on top of Jakes hips.

Jake pushed in to the kiss too, parting his lips while he reached up to tangle his fingers in Danny's hair. His breathing was shallow and hot in his lungs as he pressed close against Danny. He wasn't sure if it was good or bad to be so attached to someone after just a few short weeks, but he was falling hard.

Jake finally had to pull away so that he could catch his breath again. His heart was thumping quite loud in his chest, and he had to lick his lips where they were damp from their shared saliva.

Danny’s mind had gone completely blank, doing without thinking, and enjoying every second of it. When Jake lolled his head back a bit, Danny took it as an opportunity to plant as many sloppy kisses as he could on his neck, starting from the base and working up.

Jake's breath hitched in his throat when Danny began to kiss it, and he couldn't hold back the gentle groan that slipped out of his mouth. Danny still did not have any gel in his hair after their morning rush, and so Jake combed his fingers through it with slow strokes.

He buried his face in Danny's hair, kissing him on the top of his head and breathing in his warm scent. There were butterflies in Jake's stomach, and the fluttering was making it hard for him to sit still, so Jake pulled Danny's face close to his for another passionate kiss.

Danny groaned softly into Jakes mouth, and Danny felt something hard poking his stomach. It only took Dan a second to realize what he was feeling must be Jakes dick poking him through his baggy cargo shorts. And when he thought that, it just let out a long chain of thoughts. "Wait a second, how far are we gonna go here?" He thought, "I mean I really want to, you know, do the do, but Jake doesn’t even know about the phantom! It suddenly feels wrong to do this without him knowing, how can we do something so intimate when he doesn’t even know half of my identity?" And so with all his will power Danny pulled away from Jake and looked him in the eyes, his wide, pupil blown up eyes.

 "Hey Jake," He panted, "Before we go any further I, err, I feel like I should tell you something."

Jake's eyebrows knit together from confusion. He wasn't sure what Danny was leading up to, but it had to be pretty upsetting if it couldn't wait any longer. Jake's mind was rushing a mile a minute with all the possibilities.

Was it because Jake had been busy for so long?

What if Danny had somebody he cared about more than Jake?

What if Danny knew he was a dragon, and couldn't hide his disgust any longer?

Jake climbed off of Danny's lap and positioned himself a few feet away as he braced for the worst.

“W-wait…” Jake said. His heart was pounding an arrhythmic drum solo in his chest. He could feel that Danny was about to break some bad news, and he wasn't sure he wanted to see it play out just yet.

"I know that I told you when we met that I wasn't looking for a relationship. And I know that I have been busy over the last week without much explanation." Jake was struggling to keep his voice from cracking at this point while a few tears welled up in his eyes.

"The truth is that I am terrified of getting close to anyone because I might not be enough for them. Or maybe I would be too much... I don't know. Either way, I just want to say before you continue that these last few weeks with you have been some of the happiest of my life, and I'm not afraid of being close anymore."

His throat felt like it was closing up as the urge to cry grew stronger.

"What terrifies me now is thinking that I might lose you after I only just found you..."

Danny’s heart is broke as he listened, and once he could not take it anymore he closed the distance between him and Jake and held him in a tight embrace.

"Oh god, just shut up okay? That’s not where I was going at all, I don’t want to lose you either and you are enough, you are more than enough, I just, I...” He sighs, "I need to tell you something about me. When I was 14 something happened and well long story short..." Danny pulled away from him but never broke eye contact as he slowly changed into his ghost form, "Well now I’m half this, half ghost. And I just did not want to move any further without showing you the whole me, it didn’t seem fair so..." Danny looked down and braced himself for the worst while hoping for the best.

Jake just stared at Danny flabbergasted. He thought he had considered all the possibilities of what Danny was going to tell him, but never in a million years would have he expected this.

It was his first time getting a good look at "Phantom" without his light-sensitive dragon eyes distorting the view. Danny's eyes, skin, and even his hair was glowing with an ethereal light as he floated half a foot off of the floor. Jake stumbled back a little and took a seat on the bed while he stared. Danny, his boyfriend, was the phantom from the previous week? Jake forgot how to speak and he pinched himself just to make sure that he wasn't dreaming.

So Danny had been standing there, in ghost form, for a good minute or two while Jake just stared at him. Danny did not say anything and just let the new information sink in a little bit. "So...thoughts. feelings, screams?"

Jake snapped out of his reverie.

"Danny, I... I should probably tell you something’ too..." He knew he had better tell Danny now rather than later.

Jake pulled off his jacket and rolled up the sleeve on his t-shirt. His arm looked thin and pale in the low light, and the bruises from his past week's exploits stood out like multicolored targets. Sparks and shallow flames started running up his fingertips he began to transform. It began with long claws growing out from his nails, then the muscles in his hand and arm began expanding as ruby red scales grew from his skin to glimmer in the ember-light. He stopped the transformation two thirds of the way up his arm since he didn't think the small dorm had space for a full-grown dragon.

"My dad's side of the family is pretty normal I guess, but my mom's side..." Jake wasn't sure what Danny was going to think. It was pretty easy for Jake at least to accept that his boyfriend was half ghost. Especially because his family had groomed him to be a magical protector from his childhood. But finding out that your boyfriend is a giant, fire-breathing lizard?

"I'm the American Dragon." Jake whispered.

Danny couldn’t help but start laughing at the top of his lungs! This was rich, how in the world was this even possible? How is it that even when Danny had something normal in his life, it never really was? First with "ghost hunter" Valerie, and now this? "Of course you are!" He said still laughing, "I’m a fucking ghost, and you are a giant ass dragon! This is great, I mean just, pfft!"

"So, does that mean you're okay with this then?" He asked. He was rather relieved that Danny seemed so amused by the turn of events. Jake smiled, and let out a tentative chuckle. "Shit, this is probably the weirdest case of 'you show me yours, I'll show you mine' in the history of the world..."

Danny’s laughter only grew stronger after Jakes comment, and they ended up just laughing their asses off for a good five minutes straight. His face hurt but he was still smiling when he put his hands on Jakes shoulders, "But I am pretty sure even if I wasn’t a ghost Id still think it’s pretty fucking cool that my boyfriend is a dragon."

Now that his secret was out, Jake had no problem sprouting his wings and flying up to match Danny's eye level. He wrapped his arms around Danny's neck and hovered there as he stared in to Danny's neon green eyes with wonder. Then he kissed him on his pale, chilled lips.

As Danny kissed Jake a wonderful thought popped into his head. "Dude, we can, and totally should, fly off into the sunset, just for the hell of it."

"Oh my god, how are you such a cheeseball, Dan-man... We should at least do something cool, like sit on the top of the Statue of Liberty watching over the city while the sun sets." Jake snickered. “You know, like something Batman would do probably.”

"Totally something Bats would do, come on," he said kissing Jakes forehead before grabbing his hand, "I’ll race ya!"

 “You’re definitely not going to win this time! Dragon Up!” Jake yells, bursting in to flames briefly before emerging in his full dragon form and then slipping through Danny’s window before flying away in to the sunset beside his boyfriend.

Could a day get any better than this? 


End file.
